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SOME of the most fascinating sections of the biblical story of Moses are those dealing with the magical power of his rod. When the Lord asked Moses to leave Sinai and return to Egypt in order to liberate the Israelites, Moses was not sure that they would either listen to him or believe in him:
And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. (Exodus, 4:1)
We are then told that the Lord gave Moses three magical signs that would confirm his identity as the messenger of God:
1 The rod he was carrying became a snake and was then restored to its former state (4:2–4);
2 His hand became leprous (white as snow) and then was healed again (4:6–7); and
3 He was promised that, if he poured the water of the Nile on the ground, it would turn to blood (4:9).
Magic implies the existence of a realm of power that transcends Nature and the deities. It is an attempt to influence events by occult means and is therefore in complete contrast with the monotheistic religion of both Moses and Akhenaten.
Ancient man believed that he was able to influence the mysterious forces surrounding him by means of magical rituals or utterances. This was true of Egyptians, who had special priests to practise these arts. They believed they could achieve their desired end by such means. Magic was employed particularly to protect the dead on their journey through the underworld, and to ensure their return for a second life.
The Bible, on the other hand, opposes all kinds of magic. Any belief in its efficacy is seen as contradicting the Israelite belief in the exclusive and supreme rule of one God, whose will cannot be influenced by human means. The subsequent confrontation between Moses and the Egyptian magicians and sorcerers, described in chapter seven of the Book of Exodus, explained as miracles in the case of Moses and magic in the case of the Egyptians, is not really convincing as both sides were said to have employed the same methods.
We know also that Akhenaten rejected all kinds of magic. Even the practices, dear to the Egyptians, relating to the spells of the Book of the Dead, that guaranteed a safe journey through the underworld, as well as the trial of the deceased before Osiris, the dead king of the dead, and his tribunal found no place in Akhenaten’s religion. Osiris and other gods of the underworld were completely ignored by him and his followers. How, then, can we explain how Moses/ Akhenaten, the first prophet of monotheism, turned to magic in order to confirm that he was the true messenger of the Lord?
When we examine the acts said to have been performed by Moses to establish his identity we find that they are largely related to some old Egyptian rituals that kings used to perform in their sed festivals for the purpose of rejuvenating their power. The biblical account reads as follows:
And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.
And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said. (Exodus, 7:10–13)
The first thing we notice here is that, whereas earlier in the Book of Exodus Moses was instructed to perform three different signs, here we have an account of only one – and that it was performed not by Moses, but by Aaron.
The Koran gives a slightly different account of this confrontation, an account which contains more significant details than are to be found in the Bible and is in closer agreement with the earlier details in the Book of Exodus:
Moses said: ‘O Pharaoh!
I am an apostle from
The Lord of the Worlds, –
‘One for whom it is right
To say nothing but truth
About Allah. Now have I
Come unto you (people), from
Your Lord with a clear (Sign)
So let the Children of Israel
Depart along with me.’
(Pharaoh) said: ‘If indeed
Thou hast come with a Sign,
Show it forth, –
If thou tellest the truth.’
Then (Moses) threw his rod,
And behold! it was
A serpent, plain (for all to see)!
And he drew out his hand
And behold! it was white
To all beholders!
Said the Chiefs of the people
To Pharaoh: ‘This is indeed
A sorcerer well-versed.
‘His plan is to get you out
Of your land: then
What is it ye counsel?’
They said: ‘Keep him
And his brother in suspense
(For a while); and send
To the cities men to collect –
‘And bring up to thee
All (our) sorcerers well-versed.’
So there came
The sorcerers to Pharaoh:
They said, ‘Of course
We shall have a (suitable)
Reward if we win!
He said: ‘Yea, (and more), –
For ye shall in that case
Be (raised to posts)
Nearest (to my person).’
They said: ‘O Moses
Wilt thou throw (first),
Or shall we have
The (first) throw?’
Said Moses: ‘Throw ye (first).’
So when they threw,
They bewitched the eyes
Of the people, and struck
Terror into them: for they
Showed a great (feat of) magic.
He put it into Moses’s mind
By inspiration: ‘Throw (now)
Thy rod’: and behold!
It swallows up straightaway
All the falsehoods
Which they fake.
Thus truth was confirmed,
And all that they did
Was made of no effect.
So the (great ones) were vanquished
There and then, and were
Made to look small.
But the sorcerers fell down
Prostrate in adoration,
Saying: ‘We believe
In the Lord of the Worlds, –
‘The Lord of Moses and Aaron.’
Said Pharaoh: ‘Believe ye
In Him before I give
You permission? Surely
This is a trick which ye
Have planned in the City
To drive out its people:
But soon shall ye know
(The consequences).
‘Be sure I will cut off
Your hands and your feet
On opposite sides, and I
Will cause you all
To die on the cross.’ (Sura VII, 104–24)
This section of the Koran presents the confrontation in such a precise way that one wonders if some of the details were left out of the biblical account deliberately. Here Moses sounds less like a magician, more like someone who presents evidence of his authority that convinces the wise men of Egypt, who throw themselves at his feet and thus earn the punishment of Pharaoh. One can only suspect that the biblical editor exercised care to avoid any Egyptian involvement with the Israelite Exodus, even to the extent of replacing Moses by Aaron in the performance of the rituals.
The Koran also mentions the white hand ritual as having been performed by Moses in front of Pharaoh. As for the promise that the Nile would turn red, this should be seen as indicating the time of the year. During the season of Inundation, the Nile waters become reddish, and, if these events took place in the Eastern Delta, this would suggest the late days of summer, by which time this change of colour would have begun to affect the lower reaches of the river.
And what of the ‘magic’ rod of Moses? We know from Egyptian sources that kings used to have a collection of rods representing different aspects of their authority. One of the sceptres of the king’s power was a rod in the shape of a serpent either made of, or covered with, brass. Now, the Hebrew word used in the Bible to indicate the rod of Moses is nahash, which has the meanings of both ‘serpent’ and ‘brass’. The Haggadah, the legendary part of the Talmud, confirms the royal character of Moses’s rod: ‘The rod which Moses used … was shaped and engraved in the image of a sceptre.’
During their sed festivals, celebrated by Egyptian kings, including Akhenaten, to rejuvenate their power, it was the custom to take part in rituals that included both the ‘serpent rod’ and ‘hand’ rituals performed by Moses. In the tomb of Kheruef, one of Queen Tiye’s stewards, a throne scene shows the queen with her husband, Amenhotep III. Under the dais of the throne we see Kheruef and other officials, each holding something that he is about to hand to the king so that he can use it during the sed festival celebrations of his Year 30. In one scene, Kheruef is followed by eight palace officials, the first of whom is wearing an apron. He puts his right arm across his chest and his hand over his left shoulder while he holds his forearm with the left hand. The fourth of these officials holds a bundle of clothes in his right hand and a curved sceptre with serpent’s head in his left.1
So, in the course of their sed festival celebrations, Egyptian kings performed rituals that corresponded to the ‘serpent rod’ and ‘hand’ rituals performed by Moses – and, in performing them, Moses was not using magic but seeking to establish his royal authority.
I think the correct interpretation of these accounts is that, when Akhenaten was forced to abdicate, he must have taken his royal sceptre to Sinai with him. On the death of Horemheb, the last king of the Eighteenth Dynasty, about a quarter of a century later, he must have seen an opportunity to restore himself to the throne. No heir to the Tuthmosside kings existed and it was Pa-Ramses, commander of Horemheb’s army and governor of Zarw, who had laid claim to the throne. Akhenaten returned to Egypt and the wise men were gathered in order to decide between him and Pa-Ramses. Once they saw the sceptre of royal authority and Akhenaten had performed the sed festival rituals – secret from ordinary citizens – the wise men bowed the knee in front of him, confirming that his was the superior right to the throne, but Pa-Ramses used his army to crush the rebels. Moses was allowed to leave again for Sinai, however, accompanied by the Israelites, his mother’s relatives, and the few Egyptians who had been converted to the new religion that he had attempted to force upon Egypt a quarter of a century earlier. In Sinai the followers of Akhenaten were joined subsequently by some bedouin tribes (the Shasu), who are to be identified as the Midianites of the Bible.
No magic was performed, or intended, by Moses. The true explanation of the biblical story could only be that it was relating the political challenge for power in a mythological way – and all the plagues of which we read were natural, seasonal events in Egypt in the course of every year.